Tiny Farm BlogOrganic micro-farming with two acres and some tools ~ a daily photo journal...

Watching this video made me smile! It wasn’t the kind of smile you do when you’ve seen something cute or funny. This was the deep, involuntary smile of wonder and appreciation and, um, joy, that happens when you see something really cool and admirable. When you see something that…rocks! :)

I’ve been following the adventure at Factor e Farm, through their blog, for maybe three years now, not always diligently, but what they’re up to is always somewhere on my mind. The mission they’re on is incredibly ambitious and fundamental and world-class. You have to read through their blog and wiki, and watch some of their other videos, to get a full feel for what Factor e is up to, but to try and summarize:

Using modern technological knowledge and methods, and very little cash, they are designing and building a set of machines and methods that are open source (plans are free for all), low cost, easy to replicate, highly efficient, simple to maintain, and sustainable to operate, called the Global Village Construction Set, just about everything you would need to build a community, from the house you live in to the food you eat, from scratch.

Or as their blog puts it: “We are farmer scientists – working to develop a world class research center for decentralization technologies using open source permaculture and technology to work together for providing basic needs and self replicating the entire operation at the cost of scrap metal.”

17 Responses to “Global Village Construction Set: Watch This!”

Wow, these guys are incredible. I had a smile to match yours when that brick popped out – I have some neighbours who make mud bricks – the hard way!
It never even crossed my mind you could open source farm machinery. 40 machines and counting… jaw drops…

People are amazing. Often when I am feeling a bit down about the state of humanity, I come across something like this and remember there are many wonderful people in the world doing wonderful things. Thanks for letting me know about this.

Thanks for the kind words about our work. It is precious to see that this work causes a smile like you describe. We are still crowd supported until we bootstrap into production. Please pass on to viewers that the most direct way that they can support us is by signing up as a True Fan.

That is absolutely incredible. Is it amazing to see how intelligent people are even the ordinary people creating amazing tools coming up with an innovation that we should all be proud out and inspired with. It is really amazing and until now I am still smiling.

Wow, thanks so much for posting this! What those folks are doing is just incredible. I can’t wait until my husband gets home so I can show him that video–he’ll be even more interested in it than I am, since making machines is one of his hobbies.

Awesome. Open source! The potential for use in both developing & developed countries is fantastic. It is one of those things that makes you feel like perhaps there ARE people on your side and all is not lost!! And let’s face it, some of those machines look like they could be a LOT of fun ;)

I would love to talk to you about an issue that I feel is a hot topic in environmental news. I have written an article that I think your readers would be interested in seeing on your blog.

I’m looking to promote that idea that by encouraging grocery shoppers to branch out from their usual selections and to join the local food movement, they can help create a more sustainable agricultural system.

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